Owning a house is a dream for many Pakistanis. Many people who have started putting their income to save for their own homes are hopeful to one day buy a property of their own. In our society ownership of property translates to power. This directly reflects the increasing scope of real estate Pakistan. Where some are still having years ahead to their savings plan, some have gathered the amount they need to buy their first property.
Due to the diversity of the real estate market, a person stepping into looking for a property can be quite threatened by the vast scale of the real estate market. Many unsuspected individuals might fall to the common scams in real estate industry not knowing better. Many individuals will also be daunted by making the biggest monetary investment of their life, moreover the variety found in the kind of property they are looking to buy is also puzzling for new home buyers. This can lead them to maybe make decisions not optimal to their conditions. That is where we come in.
This article will take first time home buyers to look over some desirable features they should look for when buying a home.
Stay in the boundary of affordability:
Many home owners get overwhelmed by the idea that they have made enough money to invest into their own property. This might lead them to take a few loans from here and there or try to aim for a higher property than they could afford. This can have quite some negative consequences on their investment.
Home owners can go into debt if they take loans and the home they put their money into is too expensive to maintain for them. The thing with home investment is that there are also many maintenance costs that come with buying a house, moreover if you are living on the property the costs of monthly bills will also gather up. Simply thinking that there are no follow up costs to buying a home is impractical. Keeping a sort of financial safety net that falls in the range of you affordability for the property is the best way to invest, especially when buying a property for the first time.
First time homebuyers may also fall for scams when trying to aim higher than their affordability. You might find a posh looking low cost house that seems worth a lot more than the price you are paying and then later realize that it was part of a property feud or a scam on the market. This can lead to a devastating financial setback as your hard earned money is going to complete waste.
Keeping your expectations of the property realistic and buying property in your affordability range is going to assure the chances of success of the investment. Especially for a first time home buyer, taking risks or banking on any chances is not ideal whatsoever.
Does the house align with your life style?
Sure it would be great if you could find the perfect interior to the house that you are looking for, but what about all the other aspects of life. This means that does the surrounding of the house have all the necessary amenities you require or not. For example a particularly undesirable situation would arise where you would have to take 15 minute drive out of your days to access basic groceries from your ideal home.
Moreover many Pakistanis value their families. If you are moving into a house of your own and separating from your joint family for the first time; it might not fit you to take up a home that is far from your family.
Similarly with a lone standing property comes the environment and community around it. If you are a nature lover finding and buying a perfect house in a commercial hub is not the way to go for. Living at a long distance from hospital, education or job facility is also quite inconvenient.
A dream house is more than the architectural and composition that you want, you should always consider how convenient moving into this living space will be according to your lifestyle.
Costs on the property:
We briefly touched over the costs that come with a house when discussing staying in the range of affordability. We will elaborate in the form of maintenance on the property that you are buying. If you are buying a newly built house, the property is most likely going to be in top form and wouldn’t require any extra patching or fixing to do, however in case of buying older lived in homes and properties, the general wear and tear around the building is to be expected. This means there will be a long list of things to fix before you want to make the property move in ready.
This can be handled in two ways, either you make dealing with the previous home owner to provide you with a fully maintained house and add up to the sale cost, or make a plan for repair costs yourself. In the former can you will save yourself time and energy by not worrying about any needed repairs however in the latter by doing the maintenance work yourself, you might be able to find cost effective and convenient ways for maintenance around the house.
Your and the Property’s future:
While in the moment a house might seem to have the best location and it might be very fitting to your lifestyle, one has to consider the years to come. For example someone buys a single bedroom apartment as their first property investment while being an ambitious entrepreneur in their 20s. Consider the persons situation 5-10 years down the line when they would potential have gotten married or want to start a family. Perhaps a single bedroom apartment wouldn’t fit them and they may come to regret buying that property.
Similarly buying out your living space near the commercial hubs of a city might give you a lot more close proximity to your workspace but as you get promoted and become more financially stable you might want to look for a quieter more peaceful place that promotes your quality of life.
In case you are buying a starter house to sell it later on; consider the area you are buying in. many smart investors are known to buy out houses at lower costs in under development areas which do not have much to them, but the development over the years makes this property a lot more valuable giving better returns on investment. You could also take advantage of such investments by simple consultations or even conducting your own research. Having a reputable constructor or project head for a residential or property project is a good indicator of future success. If living in an under development or developing area doesn’t compromise much on your quality of life, you should consider buying there.
If you are buying an older house at a lower price and expect the real estate market to gain lots of traction from the area this property is located into. You can also look up the legal limitations and remodel or revamp the house and its condition to add to the value of a house so you can gain better profits while selling it off in the future
Moving on:
It is understandable that not everyone’s first property is going to be the biggest achievement of their lives. As life moves on and the person becomes a lot more financially stable and grows into their business, they will most likely want to move on from their starter home into a bigger better place. With the booming market of real estate Pakistan; newer projects bringing better lifestyle experience are always on the horizon to invest into.
This is why it is important to consider and calculate the future of property. Try to always buy in areas that have high rates of real estate activity so that you can sale or rent the house as you move elsewhere for better life and opportunity.
Conclusion
Buying property for the first time especially if intending the investment as a starter home might seem like an intimidating process but making smart choices and staying alert will go a long way to the investment’s success. The chances of error are at every step and the margin of making mistakes is quite low so you have to stay vigilant at all times when investing into a starter property.
Maintaining finances, choosing an ideal house according to your lifestyle and considering the future destination of you own life and the fate of the property is the bottom line of making sure you successfully invest into a starter home. Moreover as a beginner at real estate Pakistan, one should make them aware of frauds and watch out for many common scams in the market, so that you do not fall victim to them.
We hope you learned about buying starter homes in this article.
